A Gift on Mother's Day
by LiquidSky
Summary: Anna and Nina share a brief moment of bonding at their mother's grave.


**A/N:** A day late for Mother's Day, or later depending on where you are in the world, but the thought struck me last night.

 **Rated T for themes about cemeteries and deceased parents, which may be triggering to some.**

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(A Gift on Mother's Day)

The Irish brunette took in the scent of freshly mowed grass mixed with the crisp morning air. The birds in the trees sang their cheerful melodies and the sun shone brightly, it was a stark contrast to the cemetery before her. It wasn't the only time of the year that Anna stopped by to visit her mother, whenever she was in her home country she made it a point to spend some time at her grave and leave her a bouquet of pink roses. She didn't like being there on Mother's Day so late in the day, normally she would have been there first thing in the morning, before anyone went to pay their respects to their dearly departed mothers, but on this day she had overslept, which was terribly uncharacteristic, and in the process missed her flight. It was nearly nine a.m. and there were too many people around, when she wasn't alone she didn't feel comfortable talking to her mother.

She liked to speak to her out loud and reminisce about the times when the Williams had been a family of four, a fractured and dysfunctional family, but a family nonetheless. She never spoke to her of the present, of the sins that she committed day in and day out, Anna didn't want her mother to know that in the end, she was just another ruthless Williams. If she had lived to see what her daughters had become, she may have died of a broken heart.

She kneeled in front of her headstone, careful no to soil her pink, silk dress. It had been her mother's, it was elegant, conservative and timeless, just like she had been. Whenever she wore it, Anna felt closer to her, it made her think that maybe she could be better...but she knew that changing was too difficult, so she never even tried because she knew that she would fail, she knew that in the end, she was just another ruthless Williams and nothing was going to change that.

She set the bouquet of pink roses in front of her headstone, it read, 'Rebecca Williams, Beloved Wife and Mother.' Anna hated it, it was the most generic, uninventive epitaph that she had ever read, her mother deserved better, yet somehow she could never bring herself to change it, her mother had been very traditional after all. She was about to speak to her but upon scanning her surroundings she decided against it. People clad in black navigated solemnly through the maze of plain headstones and elaborately carved crosses, angels, and saints. Every single person was at least twice her age, she sighed and cursed God for having taken her mother when she was so young.

Then she saw her, about fifty feet away, a little girl who looked to be about six or seven years old was holding her father's hand. She had beautiful copper-colored hair that swayed gracefully in the breeze along with her yellow dress. She watched as the man set a bouquet of white flowers in front of a headstone and rubbed his eyes. The little girl began to sob and her father picked her up and let her cry into his shoulder as he kissed her head. Anna sighed and closed her eyes, she wished she had not overslept.

She felt someone approaching and opened her eyes, her hand instinctively went inside her purse and wrapped itself around the grip of her gun.

"Relax," her sister's tone was dismissive and condescending at the same time, "we're on hallowed ground, I'm not going to disrespect our parents."

"I remember our last encounter here a little differently." Anna stood up and turned to look at Nina, her long, blonde hair was in its usual ponytail and she wore black like everyone else, black pencil skirt, black belted jacket, black boots. If she had added a little color it would have been a cute outfit.

Nina shrugged. "It was a very difficult time for me."

Anna eyed the bouquet of flowers that her sister was holding. It looked about twice as large as the one she had brought, the way she was holding it made it difficult to tell, but it looked like pink roses mixed with white orchids. Not her favorite combination, but she wasn't going to complain, at least she was there to visit their mother.

"You should have worn pink," Anna said disdainfully as she watched the little girl in the yellow dress take her father's hand and walk away from the grave.

Nina scoffed. "Why?"

Anna gave her an irritated look. "It was her favorite color."

"Sometimes…" Nina looked down at the grass, inhaled, then exhaled slowly. "...There's still too much that I can't remember."

Anna felt a pang of guilt but decided to press on and pointed to the bouquet. "You brought her pink roses."

"I get these little glimpses sometimes, I was in town and I just got this flash of her smiling and a vase with pink roses on the dining table...I thought maybe it was a sign that I should come see her and that she would have liked these." Anna had the strange urge to take her hand or pat her on the shoulder, but knowing Nina, and knowing herself it would probably turn into a fight. "You look pretty," Nina's statement caught her completely off-guard but it brought a smile to her face.

"It was her dress." Anna felt close to her sister at that moment, she wanted to talk to her, laugh with her, she knew that if her mother was alive it would have been the only present she would have asked for. "I have her recipe book too," she laughed lightly, "can you believe it?"

Nina chuckled. "I cannot think of _anyone_ more deserving of a cookbook."

Anna raised her index finger. "Baby steps, Sis, first I need to learn how to boil water, then I'll consider diving into cookbooks." Nina gave her the first genuine smile she had seen in years and Anna couldn't help doing the same. "I have all her jewelry," she confessed.

Nina's smile disappeared. "She left it all to you?"

"No, she left it to _us_. It's just that after we woke up I was the only one with the...capacity to do things like reclaiming the contents of safety deposit boxes."

"Oh." Nina fixed her gaze on a distant gravestone.

"We can divide it up," Anna suggested, eager to lighten the mood again. "There are some beautiful vintage pieces, her sapphire earrings are mine though, but we can divide up the rest. You can have her wedding ring, it should go to you anyway since you're the firstborn, I'm sure it's what she would have wanted."

Nina looked thoughtfully at her almost as if she didn't believe her. "You would do that?"

"Of course, I wouldn't lie in front of Mother."

"I didn't say that you would, it's just…I didn't think you cared about tradition or mother's wishes."

Nina's statement immediately rubbed her the wrong way. Lost memories or not she should have known that Anna didn't hold anyone in higher esteem than their mother. The silence suddenly became heavy, Anna could feel the tension in the air. Nina sighed then bent down to set the bouquet of flowers in front of their mother's headstone. Pink roses, nearly identical to the ones Anna had brought. In her right hand a second bouquet remained, white orchids. Nina set the second bouquet on their father's grave. It was a grave that Anna never looked at, she pretended it wasn't there, every time she visited her mother, she ignored completely, pretending that it was a stranger's grave.

It was infuriating downright insulting. "You can't give her your full attention even one day out of the year?"

Nina looked at her sister over her shoulder. "How many times do you visit _him_?" She asked bitterly.

"None," Anna gladly admitted, "I never have."

Nina raised an eyebrow and pointed her finger at her. "Then don't admonish me, I'm trying to do right by them both."

"If you think either one of us is doing right by our mother, then you didn't know her." Anna gripped her purse tightly. "And don't blame your memory loss, I know you remember enough to know that."

Nina sighed and shook her head slowly. "You're right, she'd be heartbroken if she saw what we are now…" She looked at Anna straight in the eye, those crystal-blue eyes were just like her father's, at this moment they were as vicious too. "For all that you claim to love _her_ and hate _him_...he's the one you're making proud. You turned out just like him, didn't you? We both did."

Anna imagined opening her purse and gripping the 9mm pistol, she imagined its weight in her hand, she imagined raising it, putting her finger on the trigger and squeezing. She imagined letting her father see what he had made her, she imagined letting him see as his beloved daughter, his protege fell dead on his grave. But it was Mother's Day… The best present she could give her mother was not shooting her eldest child in the head. "I'll leave you, I'm sure you and _Daddy_ have a lot to talk about."

Without giving her sister a second glance, Anna began to walk briskly through the grassy ground, her heartbeat was loud in her ears and her muscles tight. She felt slightly more calm as she heard her heels clack on the stone-paved path, once she spotted her red Audi parked on the curb, she loosened her grip on her purse.

Two cars behind hers were the man and the little in the yellow dress that she had seen in the cemetery. He was kneeling in front of his daughter, carefully wiping her tears with his thumbs. The scene filled her with jealousy but there was something about it that warmed her heart. Without even thinking she walked up to them.

"Hello," she spoke softly. Father and daughter looked up at her, he was young, probably no older than thirty, though there were no tears in his eyes he looked exhausted and heartbroken. "I saw you both when I was at my mother's grave, I'm very sorry for your loss."

The man nodded curtly. "Thank you."

She looked at the child with the beautiful copper hair. "What's your name, sweetie?" Wide, green eyes and a tear-stained face stared up at her, the little girl then looked at her father as if asking for permission.

"It's all right," her father smiled, "go on."

"...I'm Chloe," she said timidly.

Anna smiled warmly. "What a beautiful name." She bent down to Chloe's level and looked into her eyes. "I lost my mother when I was ten, Chloe. Over time, you will feel better, but you will always miss her." Chloe looked down at the sidewalk. "I know you don't believe me now, but you are going to be fine because you have a good daddy." The girl looked into Anna's eyes once more and she felt a knot in her throat, it was such a strange and uncomfortable feeling that she quickly stood up and willed it away.

"Thank you for your kind words," she turned to look at the man, "I'm Sean," he said as he offered his hand.

"Anna," she shook his hand lightly then opened her purse and pulled out a small, red silk pouch. "Here," she took Sean's hand and put the pouch onto it then closed his fingers over it as he looked at her with a furrowed brow. "This was my mother's, I want you to have it."

Sean cautiously opened it, he pulled out what was inside and gave her a questioning gaze then shook his head slightly. "I can't take this." He held up an ornate gold and diamond ring then put it back in the silk pouch.

Anna sighed. "My mother is dead, she doesn't need it anymore and I am never going to get married, and if I did, it would be to a man who would buy me a very expensive ring of my choosing." She looked at Chloe. "Remember that, sweetheart."

Sean shook his head. "I can't."

"When did you lose your wife?"

"Three months ago."

Anna nodded. "Three months... Funerals are expensive and although your daughter looks very well taken care of," she gestured toward the brown Oldsmobile they were standing next to, it had seen better days, "you are obviously not well off. And I'll bet anything that three months is just about long enough for you to begin realizing that all the promises of friends and relatives to be there for you and Chloe and to help you with _anything_ you needed are quickly being forgotten. You're probably considering hiring someone to stay with her before and after school because you can't count on anyone to do it for free." Sean's shoulders drooped as he looked at Chloe. "This will cover whatever money you spent on the funeral and cover the salary of a good nanny for a couple of months."

Sean looked down at Chloe again, then at Anna. "I wouldn't even know what to do with it, would I take it to a pawn shop?"

Anna shook her head. "No, those places will rob you blind." She looked through her purse and pulled out a pen and a notepad then wrote an address on it and handed it to Sean. "This is a reputable antique dealer, tell him Anna sent you and he will pay you a generous amount."

Sean looked at the pouch in his hand. "I don't know what to say…"

Anna shrugged trying to act casually, but she felt good, accomplished. "Be good for your daddy," she patted Chloe on the head, "he deserves it."

She walked to her red Audi, opened the door and stepped inside. Through her rearview mirror, she watched as Sean put Chloe in the back seat of his old, brown sedan and drove off. She felt good, at peace, she knew her mother would have approved of her deed.

She looked toward the cemetery and saw Nina walking calmly back to her car. A wicked smile formed on the brunette's lips, if Nina wanted that ring she was going to have to buy it back, or better yet, search the entire world for it.

She started her car and quickly drove off in the direction of the airport, she needed a good, stiff drink before she boarded her plane.


End file.
